Comparison of the luminosity functions of open clusters based on USNO-A1 data

Abstract

The luminosity and mass functions of a group of Galactic open clusters are constructed by applying a statistical method to photometric data from the USNO-A1 catalog. Despite some limitations, this catalog can be used for statistical analyses in Galactic astronomy. Pairwise comparisons of the derived cluster luminosity functions are performed for five age intervals. The differences between the luminosity functions of the open clusters are not statistically significant in most cases. It is concluded that the luminosity functions are approximately universal throughout a large volume in the solar neighborhood. Combined luminosity and mass functions are constructed for six age intervals. The slope of the mass spectrum may vary somewhat from cluster to cluster, and the mean slope may be somewhat higher than the Salpetervalue.